Grammar Post: Semicolons

I have always had an issue with semicolons. I know they are not really that big of a deal, but I never seem to know when it would be appropriate to use them. Most of the time I just avoid them altogether, but I know that in some situations it could actually improve my writing and make a sentence more effective. Here is the general rule for semicolon usage:

In addition to using a semicolon to join related independent clauses in compound sentences, you can use a semicolon to separate items in a series if the elements of the series already include commas.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_overvw.html